Lithuanian and Latvian Occlusives: Duration and FFT Spectra of the Release Phase
| Autor: | Inese Indričāne, Jolita Urbanavičienė |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Žmogus ir žodis. 18:46-79 |
| ISSN: | 1822-7805 1392-8600 |
| DOI: | 10.15823/zz.2016.3 |
| Popis: | This current research deals with the occlusives of the contemporary Baltic languages, Lithuanian and Latvian. In the framework of this study two acoustic cues, a duration of the release phase (for the plosives and affricates) and energy distribution in the FFT spectra obtained at the burst onset (for the plosives), have been analysed. The aim of this paper is to test the role of the former acoustic cues in the classification of the occlusives according to their voicing, manner, and place of articulation. There are 20 occlusive phonemes in Standard Lithuanian: plosives/p, pj, b, bj, t, tj, d, dj, k, kj, g, gj/ and affricates /ʦ, ʦj, ʣ, ʣj, ʧ, ʧj, ʤ, ʤj/. Standard Latvian has 12 occlusive phonemes: plosives /p, b, t, d, c, ɟ, k, g/ and affricates /ʦ, ʣ, ʧ, ʤ/.The occlusives (C) have been studied in the phonetic context of all monophthongs (V) of Standard Lithuanian or Latvian. The recorded material consisted of isolated CVC syllables pronounced by 12 Lithuanian and 12 Latvian native speakers (6 males and 6 females within each language group) of the ages from 20 to 48. Their pronunciation was flawless and consistent with the norms of Standard Lithuanian or Standard Latvian. Each syllable was recorded 3–5 times. In the framework of the current research, the material of 6192 CVC syllables (3600 pronounced by the Lithuanian speakers and 2592 pronounced by the Latvian speakers) was analysed. Data processing was performed using the software PRAAT, MS EXCEL, and SPSS. The results indicate that the set of the two acoustic cues analysed in this paper provides a distinction between the following groups of the occlusives: 1) voiced vs. voiceless – displayed by the duration of the release phase (a classification of the occlusives according to their voicing); 2) plosives vs. affricates – displayed by the duration of the release phase (a classification of the occlusives according to their manner of articulation); 3) bilabials and dentals vs. palatals (la.) and velars – both displayed by the duration of the release phase and energy distribution in the FFT spectra (a classification of the plosives according to their place of articulation). The duration of the release phase provides a distinction between plosives and affricates. Within the class of plosives it is possible to separate bilabials and dentals (articulated in the frontal part of the oral cavity) vs. palatals (la.) and velars (articulated further back in the oral cavity). The results also reveal a correlation between the duration of the release phase and voicing: voiced occlusives usually have a shorter duration of the release phase in comparison to their voiceless counterparts with the same manner and place of the articulation both in Standard Lithuanian and Standard Latvian. The duration of the release phase for the occlusive (judging by mean values) is resistant to the effect of palatalisation (in Standard Lithuanian) and to gender-related differences (both in Standard Lithuanian and Standard Latvian). According to the FFT spectra obtained at the burst onset for the plosives of Standard Lithuanian and Standard Latvian, it is possible to distinguish the same groups of these consonants as by applying the duration of the release phase: bilabials and dentals vs. palatals (la.) and velars. Energy distribution in the FFT spectra is considered to be unaffected by voicing. Since it is imposible to distinguish bilabials vs. dentals or palatals (la.) vs. velars within the class of plosives, as well as to separate dental vs. alveolar affricates, it can be concluded that the set of two acoustic cues analysed in the paper is not sufficient for a complete classification of the occlusives in Standard Lithuanian or Standard Latvian. In order to achieve more accurate results, a complex analysis of the occlusives is required using a wider set of acoustic cues. Keywords: Standard Lithuanian, Standard Latvian, occlusives, duration of the release phase, FFT spectra. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15823/zz.2016.3 |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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